Ototoxicity

[Greg Clarke]

Hi Dr. Nagler,

First of all, thanks for providing your time to offer advice and answer peoples questions. This is an invaluable resource.

I'm trying to understand more about ototoxicity, but reliable data on the web is hard to come by.

In your opinion, how likely is something like a standard Ibuprofen tablet (Containing around 400mg Ibuprofen) to cause a permanent ototoxic effect like tinnitus? Personally I would have thought that you would have to be taking a dose like that daily or at higher doses but I can't find any imformation to confirm or contradict!

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Greg

 

[Dr. Nagler]

Hi Dr. Nagler,

First of all, thanks for providing your time to offer advice and answer peoples questions. This is an invaluable resource.

Glad to be of some small help.

I'm trying to understand more about ototoxicity, but reliable data on the web is hard to come by.

In your opinion, how likely is something like a standard Ibuprofen tablet (Containing around 400mg Ibuprofen) to cause a permanent ototoxic effect like tinnitus? Personally I would have thought that you would have to be taking a dose like that daily or at higher doses but I can't find any imformation to confirm or contradict!

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Greg

To me, ototoxicity means one and only one thing: known to have the potential to cause irreversible damage to the auditory system. With that in mind, there are literally thousands of things that might temporarily aggravate tinnitus for one reason or another but that are not ototoxic. Some of those are drugs, some are foods, some have to do with weather, some are related to emotion.

Ibuprofen is an example of a drug that might in some cases cause a temporary increase in tinnitus volume but that is not ototoxic. When I have a bad headache or some muscle aches, I reach for the ibuprofen and don't give it a second thought.

As I have said before, if you conduct your life with an eye towards avoiding anything and everything that might possibly aggravate your tinnitus, it's not going to be much of a life!

Dr. Stephen Nagler